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Destroyer class White Star
The Destroyer class White Star project was a joint Earth/Minbar venture to create a larger, more-powerful warship for use by the Interstellar Alliance to complement the White Star fleet. The resulting ship class is sometimes referred to as a Victory-class destroyer after the first ship of the line. History and background The earlier generation of Ranger/ISA vessels was designed to suit the purpose of the Anla'Shok: to be small, agile vehicles that could be used to engage in everything from reconnaissance up to ship-to-ship warfare. As such, they were designed to be multi-purpose and function in single units or in strike groups. However, events during the Shadow War and later events proved them to be unequal to going toe-to-toe with a large, well-armed military force without support from larger warships.The Paragon of Animals In mid-2262, President John Sheridan came up with the idea of creating a destroyer-class White Star to bolster the ISA fleet. This was after he was forced to intercede against a group of Narn and Drazi vessels that were bombing Centauri Prime.The Wheel of Fire He said that the best option was to get Earth and Minbar to work together on the project. The Minbari would provide the technical specifications, including all of the advanced gravity-based technology as well as construction assistance, and the Earth Alliance would handle finance and construction. This would have the up-shot of getting the much-promised technology into the hands of Earth, re-focusing the efforts of the Worker Caste in line with the restoration of the Grey Council, as well as getting a new class of ship for use by the Interstellar Alliance. Prototypes From 2263 to 2266 construction occurred at the Valen's Eye manufacturing point in the Chi Draconis System. The location - being on the outskirts of the Minbar system - kept it free of prying eyes. The project, headed by Samuel Drake, saw to the construction of two prototypes: the Victory and the Excalibur. The chief challenge of the project was to get the artificial gravity and gravity-based propulsion system to work with Earth tech as well as integrate the powerful Vorlon-derived technology, such as the main gun.A Call to Arms President Sheridan asked his friend and colleague - former ISA Covert Intelligence director, Michael Garibaldi - to act as a go-between to maintain the secrecy the project required. The Drakh attack on Earth President Sheridan and Earthforce Captain Leonard Anderson appropriated the prototypes to head off the Drakh attack of Earth, as Sheridan believed only something as powerful as these new destroyers could take out the Drakh's main weapon, a Shadow Death Cloud. They succeeded in stopping the Drakh invasion and destroying the Death Cloud, but not before the Victory was destroyed and the Drakh released a plague on the Earth. Before retreating, the Drakh traced the ships' origin to Chi Draconis and destroyed the manufacturing facility along with the plans for the ships. The one remaining prototype, the Excalibur, remained a one-of-a-kind ship. The ISA gave the ship to an Earth Alliance group set on finding a cure for the plague.War Zone Advanced Technology & Systems The destroyer is based on technology from the White Star fleet - being a combination of Minbari and Vorlon technology - combined with Earth technology in function and aesthetic. The two greatest applications of alien technology with human design are in the artificial gravity and associated gravimetric engines of Minbari design, and in the powerful weapon system derived from Vorlon technology. Unlike the Warlock class destroyer used by Earthforce - which used conventional ion drives and weak artificial gravity - the destroyer has a full-gravity environment of 0.9 Gs in which the crew can move freely , as well as full gravimetric propulsion. This makes the ship as maneuverable and as jump capable as a Minbari capital vessel, able to jump into and out of hyperspace repeatedly. In addition to conventional weapons similar to those on the White Stars, each destroyer has one main gun based on what the Minbari were able to learn about Vorlon weapon systems. In action the gun resembles the weapons on Vorlon cruisers, with three beams from the three fins converging at the bow of the craft into a single beam. This gun is far more powerful than any previous Minbari weapons, but because the Vorlon system isn't fully understood it has a dangerous drawback. After firing the main gun, the destroyer's power systems are almost completely drained, leaving it without weapons, engines, or full interior lighting for a minute afterwards. References Category:Operations and Projects Category:Ship classes Category:ISA Ships